Experts debate whether teens seek motherhood

Two weeks after telling her mother she never wanted children, 18-year-old Jessica Taylor discovered she was pregnant with her daughter, Sarah.

John Penney

Two weeks after telling her mother she never wanted children, 18-year-old Jessica Taylor discovered she was pregnant with her daughter, Sarah.

“I tried to get pregnant two years before that to keep my boyfriend, but I changed my mind,” said Taylor, a Danielson, Conn., resident. “And even though I can’t picture my life without Sarah, this is still the hardest thing in the world.”

Taylor, who raises her 6-month-old daughter alone, works full-time at a fast-food restaurant in an attempt to cover diaper, food and rent bills. She pays a friend to baby-sit instead of unmanageable day-care costs. And she said she and her boyfriend never used protection during sex. Ask her why not and she’ll tell you she doesn’t know.

She does know she wants something different for Sarah, though.

“When my daughter gets old enough, I’ll talk to her about sex and how she should be careful,” Taylor said. “I’ll tell her to be smart, to not be like me.”

Teen pregnancies — once explained away as the recklessness of youth — have another, more worrisome aspect as clinicians and social workers say some teen girls purposely seek pregnancy.

Earlier this month, a school official in Gloucester, Mass., discussed a “pregnancy pact” involving approximately eight local high school students. The story, which many have discounted as a rumor, was that the students planned their pregnancies with the goal of raising the children together.

But the authors of a recent University of Connecticut study said anecdotes should be taken with a grain of salt and “gross generalizations” avoided.

“Most teens who find themselves pregnant are not too happy about it,” said Rosmary Richter, teen pregnancy coordinator for the family planning program at UConn’s Health Center. “And to say the teens are trying to get pregnant is too much like blaming the victim.”

Vickie Han disagrees. In some circles, the Uncas, Conn., Health District worker said, a pregnant belly is a badge of prestige.

“Kids are throwing high school baby showers, and being cheered in hallways after announcing they’re pregnant,” she said of her experience working in the Connecticut communities of Norwich, Montville, Bozrah and Sprague. “There’s no hesitation and no embarrassment about pregnancy. We can’t figure it out, but I’m floored.”

Diane L. Manning, president and chief operating officer of United Services Inc., said the increasingly impulsive nature of today’s society can translate to short-sighted youths trading their futures for parenthood, well before many of them have even developed personalities and goals of their own.

Han isn’t exactly sure why teen girls are trying to get pregnant, but the slipping economy could be a factor. She said some teens get pregnant to receive state and federal assistance checks and benefits.

“When a child sees a parent struggling financially,” Han said, “some see having a baby as a way to help with the rent.”

“Frequently, underage girls in northeast Connecticut have no restraining factors, no reason not to become pregnant,” said Michael Patota, director of clinical services at United Services Inc. in Dayville, Conn. “There’s a lack of vision and a lack of information.”

Jane Palley, director of UConn’s family planning program, agreed with Richter’s assessment, pointing to the lack of hard evidence to support the claim of a rash of teens courting motherhood.

“It’s true, there’s always been some who want to have babies, but, for the majority, the reasons are more complex,” she said.

The purposeful pregnancy phenomenon Kristin Elliott has seen firsthand. Elliott, a Norwich Free Academy student from Sprague, Conn., said she’s known a few fellow students who intentionally have gotten pregnant.

“They just wanted babies, something to love and love them back unconditionally,” Elliott said.

Reach John Penney at 774-1093 or jppenney@norwichbulletin.com

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